Leading hardtech innovation center mHUB opens MedTech accelerator for medical device startups [Sponsored]


The mHUB Accelerated Incubation program provides a 6-month, hands-on incubation program focused on product development and commercialization. Startups receive capital through a $15 million Product Impact Fund, and potential follow-on investment opportunities from the program’s industry partners. Teams benefit from access to mHUB’s over $6 million of prototyping equipment and manufacturing resources. Industry partners Baxter and Edward-Elmhurst Health Venture Capital have agreed to provide direct mentorship, industry insights, and potential strategic partnership and pilot opportunities. MATTER, the healthcare incubator and corporate innovation accelerator, will collaborate to support programming and additional healthcare industry access.

Last year, the mHUB Accelerated Incubation program launched its inaugural cohort focused on Industrial IoT/Smart Manufacturing. Nine teams were selected from among nearly 500 global applicants to come to Chicago and participate in the program that started earlier this year.

“For the last 2 years, I was in the Bay Area, and everyone there is focused on software, but mHUB is focused on hardware,” explains Ilayda Buyukdogan, Co-Founder of Compocket, a company that manufactures miniature electronic measurement instruments and is currently participating in the Smart Manufacturing cohort of mHUB’s accelerator program.

“My first impression of mHUB was great. It provided access to tools I wouldn’t normally have, being able to prototype in 45 minutes,” said David Evans, COO of Maxwell Labs Inc, a company that manufactures state-of-the-art chip and board cooling solutions and is also participating in the Smart Manufacturing cohort. “The tools, people, and networking are fantastic. It truly is an all-encompassing accelerator.”

As the Executive Director of the MedTech cohort, I’ve seen how partnerships between healthcare and early-stage companies result in game changing innovations. In fact, because of the pandemic, we’ve all seen communities around the world coming together to solve problems. This collaborative approach is at the center of mHUB’s accelerator program, focused first on identifying demand-driven technologies and then providing a diversity of tools along with industry connectedness to accelerate the path to commercialization.

I joined the mHUB organization with over 15 years in global innovation leadership, most recently heading Baxter’s External Innovation to increase open innovation partnerships. Before Baxter, I was the Assistant Director and Head of Business Development in the Technology Commercialization and Licensing group at the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. There I spent 9 years developing, protecting, and licensing University-owned intellectual property and supporting the efforts of the commercialization team to cultivate relationships with venture capital groups. I very much look forward to working with the program’s industry partners and mentors to fast-track to commercialization the novel technologies that will most transform patient care.

The mHUB Accelerated Incubation program will select 8-10 of the most promising startups from a pool of global applicants to participate in this intensive six-month incubation program. It includes rapid product development and prototyping, business development and leadership training, mentorship, customer validation and piloting. The selected MedTech startups will be selected based on market opportunities identified by mHUB and its industry partners, which include remote monitoring solutions, diagnostic technologies, wearables, low-cost analyte sensing, technologies for tissue and nerve repair, and minimally invasive ECMO technologies, designed to replace the function of the heart and lungs, to name a few.

Selected teams will receive:

  • $75,000 initial cash investment and $600,000+ worth of additional resources, including $56,750 for prototyping and access to the mHUB Hardtech Development team in exchange for 5% pro rata rights
  • Competition for follow-on investment from an additional investment pool valued at a minimum of $345K
  • Direct access to over 60 limited partners and a broad network of venture fund partners
  • 2-year access to the mHUB community of 420 hardtech startups, 1,200 entrepreneurs, 500 U.S. based manufacturers, over 100 industry partners and 60 community partners
  • Direct support from a deep mentor talent pool of industry experts and full support from the mHUB organization

MedTech is the second vertical accelerator cohort of six that will launch over the next 3.5 years and will be supported by mHUB’s Product Impact Fund. Future verticals include EnergyTech, Smart Mobility, Smart Building and Home, and Smart Cities. More information on the accelerator can be found at https://mhubaccelerator.com/.

Applications for the MedTech cohort will close August 23 with the program commencing in Chicago in Q4. Applications can be found here.